Part 134
Sitemap '--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ' Lots More Fabulous Items/Ideas For a BioShock Rapture MMORPG '--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ' Part 134 --- --- --- --- Illogic with a Capital "I" ' : Another thing which I don't understand : How the game authors could think to turn Ryan into such a Surrender Monkey, abandoning his life's work and suiciding. Particularly as it was shown : * Ryan knew what Jack was (a will-less pawn, which Ryan even demonstrated, and hardly someone he could "change by example" or "Be A Disappointment", when Jack was so obviously Completely Manipulated). * Jack was there and in the palm of Ryan's hand (Ryan could have had him restrained and deprogrammed/rehabilitated - showing that people CAN be redeemed if controlling effects are removed). * At that point, Fontaine/Atlas 'The Parasite' was all but beaten, and soon would be gone. * As they repeatedly stressed throughout the game - Ryan would fight -- as he had done his whole life. The proper LOGICAL outcome DID NOT happen. So with atypical behavior, for everything THEY told us about the man, suddenly Ryan quits. It IS simply a case of disgusting SUCKY-BAD HACK writing. ''But as I've said so many times : BioShock is a Shoot-Em-Up game first and foremost, and "cuz" is the only excuse needed to contrive nonsensical/illogical/delusional details for a simplistic "Get-on-with-the-Shoot-n-Slaughter" plot, and then make believe (in those endless promotions) it all meant something more than it did ('cuz they said so'). It REALLY should (and COULD) have been better, but the Truth is - it wasn't. --- --- --- 'Advertise This Sucka !!! ' : Flybots pulling advertisement Banners inside (if too slow, could be a balloon/mini blimp assisted). This may have been where the Security Flybots got their start. Fancy lighting effects would be likely. Submarines out in ocean or "Ocean Bots" doing same thing (brightly lit close to windows - where they might actually be seen). A variety of fixed/moored floating advertisements too. --- --- --- 'Tan Suan Co La (San Juan Cola ?) More Weird Contraband ' : I never did figure out why this is such a mangled name (Maybe its purchased by Fontaine's smugglers in Iceland or something like that ??) SO they importing a 'cola' ?? (Seriously, there are far more valuable/profitable things to smuggle ... usual logic as loose as a Splicer's bowels after eating a 'bad' clam). When cocaine and alcohol meet inside a person, they create a third unique drug called cocaethylene. Cocaethylene works like cocaine, but with more euphoria. Originally a wine drink was commercially offered with cocaine added (giving that combination effect), but public sentiment named it too much (various racist issues down South ... something about certain ethnicities losing control/inhibitions a bit too much). So along came someone who combined it with caffeine (from the kola nut) - Coca Cola ... But Fontaine isn't limited by much, so this brand might have been laced with Heroin for all we know. --- --- --- 'Kinetoscope - "The envy of all his peers" ' : OMG OMG !!!! A CHILD smoking AND THEY HAVE A BRAND JUST FOR CHILDREN !!! *THE HUMANITY* !!!!! More inept BS. Kids commonly smoked in that time, and just used adult brands of Tobacco products (rolled their own too). (( Seriously, "weak-kneed people of the future" is what the people back then would call many of our modern 'enlightened' people. )) OMG !!!! They also CHEWED Tobacco !!!!! How very terribly Horrible it was in those days, No? Cigarette cards, Columbia style - "Famous Stonings and Lynchings" was the most popular series. "1890s - The Women's Christian Temperance Movement publishes a Pamphlet "Narcotics", by E. B. Ingalls. It discusses the evils of numerous drugs, tobacco, cocaine, ginger, hashish, and headache medicines." "Good thing That "Ginger" never made it to the hands of Columbia's children, Thank the Prophet!!!" - 1900 - a popular notion of the day, says, "there are many cigarettes whose tobacco has been mixed with opium or some other drug, and whose wrapper has been saturated in a solution of arsenic.". (Of course that was a vast improvement over the modern cigarettes whose tobacco has been adulterated with cow dung and recycled toilet paper). --- --- --- 'Lame Evidence of Anti-Semitism (Infinite BS) ' : A vandalized tailoring vendor was about it (why would that even be there if the racist population would find the whole idea of such a machine repugnant ??? Logic does not abound in the game). Hard to have Anti-Semitism without having any Jews (no evidence of any of those ... Not even a Kinetoscope. Too risque I guess when other issues at least got lip-service). Being the 'Epitome' of America 1900, Columbia HAD to have its Anti-Semitism, unfortunately the game writers left most of the social issues as milque-toast presentations/vignettes reducing them to cardboard cutouts (but they DID allow the player to shoot black people, so there's that going for it, I guess.) --- --- --- '''Game Etiquette Points : Many MMORPG games allow you to walk right through other Players and NPCs (including enemies). Not checking for it lessens Server processing overhead (doing all the collision tests against movable objects), and it also prevents traffic jams (ordinary and intentional). There also is a problem with Internet delays not allowing accurate collision prevention with typical game movement speeds. This MMORPG will likewise have that problem, but nothing stops the system from detecting when Players run into one another. From that end, consequences can be created which compel the Players to act in a realistic fashion. Games where Griefers, even when they cannot attack other Player's directly, can bother others by intentionally blocking movement or shoving them (if the game mechanics work that way), or by interfering with NPCs normal behavior/activities in various ways. More sophisticated/reactive NPC behavior scripting can have ways of handling those bothersome actions. Pretty soon NPCs would be giving the rude offenders 'The Back of Their Hands', and refusing to interact with them. Punch an NPC without reason and a complaint is filed with a Constable sending you to the Jail (or the NPC and friends beat you up and you have to limp around for a week). Reactions can escalate as the player offender continues their bad behavior. Nice orderly Player activity is to be rewarded (as when you avoid running into people) and disorderly/bothersome behavior is SIGNIFICANTLY punished. You will need some detection of Player's intentionally placing themselves constantly in your path to obstruct your movement, or to force you to be 'rude' running into other Players and NPCs. Players are VERY creative, and some will use anything they can to be disruptive. Keeping the game's prevenative measures up-to-date to prevent 'Griefing' Players using them as tools (via loopholes) can take a bit of work. One method may be facilitating in-game recordings of bad behavior, which can be submitted to the community to judge obvious bad behavior and hand out appropriate punishment (NOTE - this process ITSELF needs protections against being manipulated and abused). Punishments need to be severe enough to limit/dissuade continuing the bad behavior (and intentional disruptions to a players game experience). - The Reward ramp : The higher your sustained Etiquette, the more 'parties' you are invited to. Parties where 'exclusive' hints/access for goodies and such are divulged (thus is the incentive). Upscale contacts can link you to more lucrative Missions and access to resources. Just being civil in New Rapture is part of the 'Social Contract' for being allowed to live there. Society ramp (as you move up "The Great Food Chain") has linkage to accepted etiquette which shouldn't be too onerous/strict . - Legal stuff - A well constructed EULA (End-User License Agreement) spelling out expected behavior and penalties would be needed. Perhaps there can be something more than the *scroll to bottom* and 'I Agree' which companies use to pretend that Players actually read their EULA. Maybe quizzes that earn the player in-game bonuses for answering (multiple guess) EULA information correctly may get more Player comprehension/understanding/awareness (making it harder to say "I didn't know"). Refreshers are important when Updates occur. --- --- --- The Big Burn - Columbias Fault ? ' : By The Big Burn (1910 Montana and westwards)) conflagration's end more than 3 million acres had burned. They (the game writers) liked trying to interweave events of Columbia with World history (frequently quite absurdly), so why not the following : Columbia's route path (that strange map in their 'lighthouse' rocket-whachamacallit) crosses the Southern Rockies, but with Teddy Roosevelt after them, they probably would want to randomize their path a bit). So was it Burning Crap™ falling from Columbia (had to be big stuff or otherwise it would burnout with that distance down to the ground) causing this fire? A mishap with the city dump (literally dumping ... and smouldering rubbish) perhaps ? Discarded cigarettes and cigars and the odd lost pipe causing long smouldering fires after mixing with the trash ??? Was is some Spent Vigor bottles landing and acting like magnifying glasses ?? Some confiscated bootleggers still being disposed of ??? SO now Smokey The Bear was after Columbia. He would be their most terribly enemy yet ... (He would shout "ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES !!!" as he swung his shovel and crushed Songbirds head. And that was only for starters ...) One swipe of those paws can break a humans back. Exploding picnic baskets !! Such Mayhem would be unleashed. --- --- --- '''So Ryan Is Now Jewish ??? An Amazing New Declaration ' : I don't buy that 2015 declaration of Levine's that Ryan now is 'jewish'. That doesn't fit with anything from the previous games, or specific details mentioned in the Rapture novel (just from the family relative names being of Orthodox Christian Saints DEFINITELY would not be used by any jew IN Russia, making it unlikely Shirley had a clue that Ryan was supposed to be a jew...). It is more retroactive/revision for the sake of Levine trying to get a new job, and this new "Authentic Diversity" crap he's spewing now to that end (attempting to stand out by using 'socially relevancy' again -- probably hoping they don't look too closely at Infinite BS and its milqueytoast presentation of social issues). I recall John Shirley's novel had a Ryan relative (the one who Ryan as a child watches get murdered by Bolsheviks at a train station) who had "carved a saber out of wood as a present for Andrei's tenth birthday". The Russians conscripted jews as Cannon-Fodder in their wars, and used it as a method of secularizing them. So this seems a rather strange present for one jew to give to another jew. Jewish community authorities were given the task of selecting recruits to meet the Czar's quotas, and usually selected the “non-useful Jews” (avoiding the middle class jews which Ryan's family was supposed to be). Definitely a new confusing RETCON revelation. - Ryan BS1 : "My city will live. My city will thrive. And, when that day comes, we'll use your tombstone for paving tiles." In BS1 they had to vilify Ryan to make him 'the evil enemy', so YOU were willingly to think its OK to go kill him as part of their 'twist' plot (as if you had any choice). If I'm not mistaken, they are here invoking the Nazis who maliciously desecrated jewish graves and cemeteries and actually paved roads with the tombstones (there us a famous picture of it taken later). Is THAT likely something any Jew would ever be saying ? Writers laying it on rather thick, but most probably NOT with any inkling about Ryan's recently (2015 Levine RETCON) disclosed 'jewish' background being known to the writers. --- --- --- '''Columbian Cholera Epidemic : Columbia's water system probably was rather problematic (they never explain where their water comes from, how it gets there, etc...) and a REAL city uses large amounts of it. Likewise its unexplained/unelaborated for the 'industry'/manufacturing part of Columbia which would use even MORE water than the population (whatever THAT actually was supposed to be itself). Having the water supply get contaminated, when there was no redundant systems (or escape), would make Columbia ripe for catastrophe. (The shoddy work done for the plaster and chickenwire exposition 'Show City' would soon start to deteriorate, and you would expect 'Shantytown' to be sub par anyway). Maybe it ALSO would be no problem for an epidemic to be 'Helped Along' (on Comstock's orders) to "Thin Out" the population of Untermenschen in the city's 'lower orders', when they were growing too numerous (usually these diseases have the greatest fatality amongst the weak/young/old). --- --- --- Level-itus : In some MMORPG games, when the Player is constantly 'leveling' (often quite fast - part of the Pavlovian reward mechanism) adding new/more abilities and Hitpoints, and such. Tool/Weapon Objects they obtain quickly become obsolete (as they are designated BY LEVEL to give the Player new things 'as they level', rather than allow the Player 'the good stuff','uber-weapons' early (ie- Purchased/Crafted or as random loot). So you get the Super-duper Vorpal Chainsaw, but have to throw it away when you will get the next 'legendary' item on the game's continuous leveling ramp. Fancy epic-named and Themed stuff (and special 'Powers') don't usually allow 'upgrades' and/or pretty decorations to be added to their distinct look (they are easy game Assets to provide multitudes of to make the Player think they are advancing/getting something 'special'). Complex systems of upgrades almost always are pretty generic, thus cutting out that 'themey' aspect had by a large diverse static progression of 'different' weapons/tools/clothing/mounts/vehicles/ammos/buffs/etc ... That kind of thing shouldn't happen in this MMORPG. Utility of items, incremental improvements, better effectiveness from skill/training/knowledge/experience-of-use (Player able for decision to aim for something they want to be able to use and get it at whatever 'level' they have attained). You DONT have to throw stuff away, and because things BREAK, you might need that 'second best' item eventually. Many game Upgrade algorithms use equations with "Decreasing Returns" or improvement paths via Specialization to limit tools/weapons advancement so that they don't much retain their value when the Player levels (becoming obsolete). Some MMORPGs when adding new higher-level content have 'inflation', and old "top end" equipment, which the Players had to slave over to obtain, are instantly outclassed by the new 'content drop' easily-got ordinary equipment (and render the old play path to gain that gear irrelevant for any new players working their way up from lower levels). "I have Named my Grenades" (*Insane* mode name in old game : "Rise of the Triad" ) --- --- --- Novel Stuff Big Daddy Origins ? John Shirley to the Rescue : The Novel mentions (page ?) experiments which look to be origins of the Maintenance Cyborgs (pre-Big Daddies). Here some overt vagueness can be used to build the backstory. The scene shows Suchong and Tenenbaum being involved, and Ryan himself mentioning the 'volunteer' (which might be justified as being closer to the Handyman story, with the test subject involved being some Terminally Ill or disabled patient) -- need to check if this was before ADAM was discovered, which might preclude alot of potential such 'volunteers' with its eventual healing abilities (although possibly being there with the potential for the same kind of thing being applying later). It is implied (in the Novel) that the test subject is for a Project to develop a type of Deep-Diver mutant/cyborg for City Repair (probably as an alternative to the impracticalities of real diving Hard Suits, which WOULD have had to be used for the much of Rapture (anything deeper than 150 feet down). Unfortunately, John Shirley hasn't pieced every detail out quite logically - he hints that additional blue collar workers might be needed. - The book (Novel 1950 on page 141) talks of a maintenance personnel shortage (author is building a link to the story's later 'Labor Unrest' problems). Unfortunately is also *WHEN* there still ARE all the original construction workers who then might no longer have jobs (or soon will be available as major construction ceases). THAT'S true even if (as I posit) only a fraction of those who did the construction came to live in Rapture (as much work would, to be practical, have to be done on the surface ... prefabrication -- with those personnel never being in (or near) Rapture. The cover story for managing THAT (secrecy) feat will be interesting to work out ... with Flashbacks and such in the MMORPG.) --- --- --- Times Relentless March on Columbia : Scummy Fountains and Dirty Statues (Columbia has been floating about for almost 20 years - plenty of time for corrosion/decay and dirt/clogs to have its affect) : Where are all the cranes and scaffolding needed to get the cleaners up on those ridiculous Huge-ified statues ? What ? Flying things for that ? SO the worker-class drudges won't *INSTANTLY* use those to zoom off and make their escape from Columbia ? The premise of this game is full of holes you could fly Zeppelins through (that avowal is 'spot on' for this game, even though I first used it over 25 years ago with something unrelated but similarly flawed). --- --- --- Game Mechanics Need For Variability - How to Fix That ' : Problem most MMORPGs (and Solo games too) have with high detail Assets (ones you are likely to have more chance to notice detail) being SIMPLY Cloned -- Example for Splicers : exactly the same/or oft repeated Stains, Chewed/cut up Clothing , Bandages (and weapons, accouterments, accessorizing, and even handedness (righty vs lefty) ...). "Oh, But that one has a box over his head." (BaSx - Before 'the masks', but in reality stupid as mentioned elsewhere, repetitiously used in the game (being DLC at least is half an excuse for "BoxhHead"). Imagine the fun with a simple (hah, not quite - 'relatively' simple) optional Splicer head coverings being Player Asset Creation by many Players. It is fairly independent of game mechanics and all the Asset complexity which goes with that. (It is also Another good one for a Player Contest ...) Something like that maybe could serve as an Introductory Asset Creation Tutorial (again, being on the simple side of the spectrum to demonstrate the Creation mechanisms and get more Players interested in doing that element of the MMORPG). Better : is where you actually create something immediately usable in the game (once in a while one of the Splicers you see is wearing YOUR creation (probably immediately, after you finish it, and then once in a while to not be too repetitive). The vetting rules for submissions to be published to all Players are stringent, but are somewhat different for an Asset shown ONLY on the players own Client. Contest-wise, I probably wouldn't want to have to be a Contest Judge for 10000+ submissions of the same Asset Type (even having a system with Website posting of the submissions, and then 'Votes' to cull out mediocre (or worse) ones. It would be tedious even for the voters (and then largely being ignored and a waste of time). --- --- --- '''Kinetoscope - "Unholy Mystery in Columbia" *FIXED* ' : (a woman in the background stares bewildered at a crazy crackling disruption in the air) Columbia is utterly fearful at unfamiliar sights ... (a woman in the foreground shrieks and covers her face at the unnatural phenomenon) What the hell is it?! Prophet Save US !!! (the shimmering haze appears on the pediment of a building) What are these satan-spawned astonishments which appear and disappear? (Rosalind Lutece stands against a locked gate separating her from a clamoring crowd) Columbia's greatest mind just isn't saying ... (A howling crowd seizes her and mouths the shout "SHES A WITCH... BURN HER") Whats now happening here ? A Witch Burning !!! (Wood is piled up and Rosalind Lutece is tied to a stake in its midst) BURN Witch BURN !!!!! (The flames leap and the burning figure twists grotesquely and something bursts) Columbia will stomach no Witches !! Hallelujah !!! FIN --- --- --- 'Those Weird Trams in Rapture (Designed Only to be Wreckage Props) ': Wasteful design (looks like its attempting to look like a bathysphere) limits capacity (can barely hold any passengers - that inside doesn't even have seats because they would show how ridiculously small that interior is.) Crowds of passengers would want a ride in Rush Hour, and any 'artsy' look would be wasted when they are tired of waiting and have to wait for yet another one because these things don't fit even a modest number of people. The door arrangement is particularly bizarre (great for breaking ankles). Any common boxy semi-streamlined tram shape from the 3 decades before 1950 would have been adequate and superior to this. Almost enough effort seems to have been expended on making this Game Asset (seats and control stand, and actual doors). It just needed a proper design (and looking at the internet should have easily solved that). All seems fairly clueless. By 1960 in Rapture anything like this (if ever built) would have been discarded or rebuilt into what was needed, instead of whatever this poor thing is. Maybe if use of the Tram had been part of the games 'path' (actually was shown going somewhere) it might not have been made looking so strange and misdesigned. --- --- --- '''Fontaine's Freaky Floating Folly : That central building is supposedly free-floating in water (structure weighs less than the water it displaces - totally possible with all the huge air spaces inside), but needed to be anchored/tied down -- to not just hold it in place, but to keep it from swaying in currents (one of the online Infinite BS detractors mentioned a floating city being problematic/uninhabitable because of constant Motion Sickness of the population ...). The high depth pressure doesn't change that because liquid water doesn't compress. The 2 other buildings seem planted (serving as anchors), and there would need to be additional guywires in many other directions to stop/dampen swaying/tilting. Neutral buoyancy is hard to keep balanced (in free-floating submarines/bathyspheres is where its critical), but that is unneeded here because of the anchoring (at least as illustrated that pix). It just needs to maintain sufficient positive buoyancy. Once you get rid of that anchoring (as in 'sunk' or with the BaS ending's QM particle floating it up, it becomes unstable - probably everything shaken from the neat shelves/walls in all the lurching and swaying ... (I wont go into all the problems with the quantum stuff involved in the BaSx story -- that's just a convenient plot gimmick alluding back to Elizabeth's Columbia universe ... its DLC anyway - usually a hack job). So this floating building thing really makes no practical sense (the opposite actually - it causes Major extra expenses to not have it become "barf central", or just plain "a disaster waiting to happen"). So it was another 'neat idea' that sounded good to the writers and contrived for including the "quantum particle" bit in the plot. That's normally NOT the basis for a building design in any real sane world. BTW, If Fontaines had been 'sunk' (literally vs figuratively) then all the utilities would need to be (expensively and time-consumingly) rebuilt to matchup/reconnect at that new spot, or the place would very soon be a "Cold Dark Wet Tomb". So in my logical universe the situation was just being isolated AND temporary (OR better : it would be some well prepared old warehouse in the cheap part of town). It costs money to fix up a 'Prison', and they MADE THE POINT OVER AND OVER that Ryan didn't care to spend money he did not have to. Also, it really being sunk alot deeper, the depth would exceed any building overengineering of its pressure containment strength factors (add 14 lb/sq in per atmosphere - every ~30 feet deeper) AND IT WOULD IMPLODE. I know, "its a game", but connection to reality (like all those Physical Laws) is supposed to make the Sci-Fi weird stuff that much more shocking/relatable. - Its a good thing that Fontaine got killed when he did because the next Atlantic Storm season would have well demonstrated why that 'floating' design really wasn't such a good idea (heaving in the increased currents and turbulance, and probably quickly wrecking the place). - Perhaps the thing was really planned as the method for Fontaine's departure from Rapture ( to be an undersea 'base' to be moved (floated away) closer to the US to launch Fontaine's "return" to the Surface). You'd think he would need Little Sisters and the ADAM labs for that, though. AND Could he trust anyone else to run Rapture if he was gone, OR trust whoever he sent 'to the Surface' to deal for him ??? Perhaps he was much MORE trapped than he had thought. --- --- --- Annie's Tree Farm & Greenhouse : There should have been lots of these agricultural businesses, which many people would have the skill to do (including many who only thought they did whose failed businesses then went to someone else). Trees do take a while to grow, but there are quick growing varieties, and other plants which grow far faster - to be used for oxygen generation (actually scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air) and biomass production, as well as also producing food (including animal food for livestock/pets). Wood (and fiber pulp for paper) from trees/plants is another product. Heating and light equipment and water and nutrients are needed to grow plants (wasn't it smart that Sinclair bought-up/built Sewage Farms in Rapture ?) Sorry, no "Feces King brand Potatoes" (ala The Martian) - whether true or not, its just TMI for the customers. Actually that reminds me that they grow mushrooms in sterilized cow manure (didn't you know?), so that's another kind of 'farm'. - Not All Businesses Can Be a Success : Automatically assuming so and thus justifying opposition to Ryan's Philosophy is a shortcoming of writers who haven't a clue about how real business works. The type of people which Rapture attracted would be more a step up from the average socialist denziens (even of that 40s/50s times type), and thus would have more entrepreneurs (which doesn't automatically equal success on any account). Businesses fail all the time or are marginal for extended periods, just by circumstances. Nothing said that a successful business on the Surface would translate into one in Rapture (and across time/events there). It might be difficulties in supply, market-size/mix, society or whatever. Mentioned elsewhere is the problem that Rapture couldn't support alot of true mass production, and products had to be supplied via less efficient methods. That could skew the spending patterns of the available customers. Even when normally a success, economic patterns might eventually thwart Success. I have posited that even during the so called 'civil war' (who did name it such ???) Ryan kept much of Rapture alive and running by isolating the Terrorist elements. That was also done with MUCH MORE help of the normal citizens (who despite the games lame story WOULD have had alot to do with defending their lives/families/businesses and Rapture) As would usually happen, albeit in a accelerated fashion, would be businesses going bankrupt, and possibly being bought out for someone else to have a go at them (possibly with the previous owner now being a 'skilled' employee). Successful competitors (if any) might buy out a failing business they were in competion with. --- --- --- Term "EctoPlasmic" (For Something Worthy of Infinite Bullshit) : Definition : A substance or spiritual energy "exteriorized" by physical mediums, merged into the notion of an "ectenic force" as understood by early psychical researchers seeking a physical explanation for reports of psychokinesis. Yeah, that sounds about right for the BS in Infinite BS. EctoPlasmic Quantumz - sounds good enough for these writers (little jiggidy things that when 'realities collapse' makes peoples' heads spin-around/wave-about and gives them nosebleeds). Strangely enough Booker gets killed repeatedly but his head never seems to be one big bloodclot like it aught to be - must be some kind of 'NEGATIVE EctoPlasmic Quantumz' at work there - YEAH that's it ... That will sound plausible and fool the Fanbois !!! --- --- --- Building Rapture Took the Merging/Incorporation of Many Technologies : * Organizing and Coordinating such a large Project (and supposedly keeping it a secret - making it much more work/complexity) * Underwater Surveying - to find Rapture Site (meeting fairly stringent criteria) in the first place (SONAR depth scanning, etc...) * Deep Diving Underwater Vehicles (though these depths are a fraction of the explorations that later would be done as exploration) * Sea Transportation - moving 20000 people and their worldly goods and all the construction materials and all supplies for the city. Including Transference of Cargo in Open Ocean * Underwater Concrete construction building of Maritime installations (including surface prefabrication) * Deepwater Environment Construction - early ocean/water oil drilling/deep water remote control * Mining and rock excavation (adapted for underwater) * Geothermal Power and other utilities (adapted for underwater) * Mass air oxygenation and CO2 scrubbing and circulation systems * Hydroponic Farming * Finance Management and Clearinghouse (assisted by using the new 'Computers' ) * Communication Management for the finding of "The People" who were to inhabit Rapture --- --- --- Rapture Society 'Rapture's "The Forty" (club ?) ' : The social elite in Rapture chosen by some society maven (similar to 'the 400' (club?) in NYC society which was prestigious to be in - membership was much sought by the "Whos Whos"). - '"I'll be dining at my club" ' : Various clubs with dining and hotel room accommodations would exist to cater to the wealthy and others for special events. Some people (are rich enough to) live out of hotel rooms or to frequent them for 'a change of scenery' --- --- --- --- --- . . .